


Not Bad at All

by hanluvr (Bria)



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Introspection, Pete's World, Post-Episode: s04e13 Journey's End, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 04:08:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7559503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bria/pseuds/hanluvr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Relief. That was the primary emotion running through the Doctor’s mind as the TARDIS departed Bad Wolf Bay. There was sadness (oh yes) as his home of hundreds of years dematerialized and his connection to her winked out. But he had been holding the one hand that made it worth it. Rose Tyler's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Bad at All

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Doctor Who isn't mine. If it was things would be quite different. The BBC owns all and I bow before them.
> 
> Written for timepetalsprompts on tumblr and their weekly drabble prompt: relief.
> 
> Many thanks to TenRoseForeverandever (beta extraordinaire) for her help and listening to me whine. She's awesome and any mistakes are entirely my own. Also a shout out to Moony for advising which ending she preferred. :)

_Relief_. That was the primary emotion running through the Doctor’s mind as the TARDIS departed Bad Wolf Bay. There was sadness (oh yes) as his home of hundreds of years dematerialized and his connection to her winked out. But he had been holding the one hand that made it worth it. Rose Tyler’s. Even if she’d pulled away, even if she’d run after it, she was still here, in the same universe as him. 

For the first time since he’d realized he was human, the Doctor felt he could breathe freely. He’d known what his former self had planned. He’d have done the same, had he been in his Converse of course. However, now he had that little bit of Donna in him, he _knew_ humans didn’t like to be forced into things or told what to do (and, really, that wasn’t any different from how he had thought as a Time Lord. He could admit that now). He _couldn’t_ have done that to her, even at the cost of his spending his one life without her. 

Walking to where she stood motionless in the sand, he slipped his hand back into hers and squeezed gently. Oh, it was a gamble, but if he believed in one thing, he believed in her. 

“Stuck with me. Not so bad, eh?”

Rose looked down at their entwined hands, then into his eyes. Her face was inscrutable and he held his breath, hoping he’d said the right thing. He knew the immediate future wouldn’t be easy, for either of them, but as long as they were together, he was confident they could get through anything. The universes hadn’t been able to keep them apart, now the future was up to them. 

She sniffled and nodded. “Not bad at all.”

Then she truly smiled.


End file.
